Advertising device for railway-cars.



I. WOLF. ADVERTISING DEVICE FOR RAILWAY GARS.

APPLICATION FILED SBPT.19, 1908.

1 Patented July 9, 1912.

FRANK WOLF, OF NEW YORK, 1\T. Y.

ADVERTISING DEVICE FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

To all fr0/0m t may ooncem:

Be it known that I, FRANK VOLF, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at New York, in the borough of Manhattan, county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Advertising Devices for Railway-Cars, of which the following is a specication.

The object of this invention is to provide a system of movable advertising signs for railway cars so that all the signs at one side of the car are exhibited to the passengers sitting at the opposite side of the car, and that the number of signs exhibited can almost be doubled and thereby an increased revenue obtained from the renting of the advertising space; and for this purpose the invention consists of an advertising device for railway cars which comprises a plurality of individual advertising panels, guideways arranged along the side-walls of the car for guiding said signs, an endless chain in the lower guideways, means for connecting said endless chain with the individual sign panels, and means for switching the sign panels at the opposite ends of the guideways respectively from the front guideways` into the rear guideways and from the rear guideways to the front guideways so as to exhibit thereby successively every sign panel in the system.

rlhe invention consist-s further of certain details of construction and combinations of parts which will be fully described hereinafter and iinally pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure I represents a side-elevation, partly in section,`

of my improved advertising device for railway cars, F ig.2 is a plan-view of the same, partly in section through the side-wall of the car, Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section of the advertising device, drawn on a larger scale, Fig. 4 is a horizontal section of the driving end of my improved advertising dev-ice, also drawn on a larger scale, Fig. 5 is a vertical transverse section on line 5, 5, Fig. 4, and Figs. 6 and 7 are detail sectional plan-views, showing the arrangement of the switching means at opposite ends of the endless drive-chain for the sign panels.

Similar letters of reference indicate cory specication of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 19, 1908.

Patented Julyil, 1912.

Serial No. 453,875.

responding parts throughout the several figures.

The improved advertising device for railway cars is intended to be arranged at the upper portions of the side-walls of the car, at about the same place where the stationary signs at present in use are located. In place of the stationary signs movable signs are to be used. For this purpose it is necessary to guide the individual sign-panels A in upper and lower guideways that are either arranged in a separate frame attached t-he side-walls when the car is built. The

vupper guideways a are preferably arranged somewhat in front of the lower guideways al and inclined at an angle corresponding to the inward angle at which the sign panels are supported in the car. The lower guideways are formed by a longitudinal cleat or rail a? supported on a metallic guide-plate o which projects somewhat at the inner side, while a second strip b1 extends along the side wall of the car, said strip being also covered with a metallic inwardly projecting plate, the projecting portions serving as the means for guiding the lower ends of the curved sign panels A. The guide-strips terminate at some distance from the ends of the car so as to give the necessary space for permitting the shifting of the sign-panels from the front guideways to the rear guideways at one end and from the rear guideways to the front guideways at the opposite end of the car. In the space between the lower guideways is arranged an endless sprocket-chain c, which is guided near the end-walls of the car over sprocket-wheels c1, c2, one of the sprocketwheels being the driving wheel which is connected with a driving mechanism m that is located adjacent to one end-wall of the car, and which consists of a vertical shaft s that turns in bearings near the end-wall of the car and that receives rotary motion in any suitable manner from an electric or other motor arranged below the bottom of the car and that transmits by a sprocketwheel c3 at the upper end and a sprocketchain c* and sprocket-wheel c5 motion to the shaft of the driving sprocket-wheel c2, as shown clearly in Figs. l and 2. The opposite sprocket-wheel c1 serves as a guide- .to the\side-walls of the car or arranged in wheel for the endless chain. 1f desired, intermediate guide sprocket-wheels may be arranged between the end sprocket-wheels of the sprocket-chain c. 1n place of the sprocket-chain transmission described, any other means by which motion is imparted to the endless chain may be used.

rPhe sign panels A are made in the usual manner of sheet-metal frames into which the advertising signs are inserted. Each sign panel is provided at its lower part with an interior filling strip CZ which Spaces, the turned-over edge from the rear plate and into which extends t-hrough a central opening in the bottom of the frame, a Z-shaped connecting pin d1, the middle portion of which moves along the projecting portions of the plates attached to the strips a2, b1, while the lower ends pass through a hole in one of the links of the endless sprocket-chain c, as shown clearly in Figs. l and 5. The sheet-metal frames for the sign-panels are made of a rear-plate, the upper, lower and end portions being folded over. The folded end portions are recessed near the upper edges as shown in Fig. 1 so as to permit the easy insertion of the advertising signs after which the upper corners of the sign may be tucked in. The sheet metal rear plates of the frames are readily bent into proper shape after the signs are inserted as shown in Figs. 8 and 5, and placed in position in the upper and lower guideways which are located in a vertical plane when straight panels are used and in different planes when curved sign-panels are used. Sheet metal frames may also be made of open sheet metal rear-plates so as to make them as light as possible and permit the convenient bending or curving of the sign-panels into the required shape.

At both ends of the guideways for the movable sign panels are arranged, near the end-walls of the car, stationary panels e, el which serve for closing up the space beyond the opposite ends of the endless chain and for covering the sign-panels as they arrive at the ends of the guideways when being shifted from the rear guideways into the front guideways at one end and from the front guideways to the rear guideways at the opposite ends without being seen by the passengers in the car. r1`he sign-panels, as they arrive at either end of the car, disappear behind the stationary panels e, e1 and are shifted in the space back of the same. rThe shifting mechanism is composed of a platform f, which is supported on stud-pins f1 at both ends of the car on a level with the metal plates on the guide-strips a2, b1, and of a flat spring g which is attached at one end to a block g1 at one end of the shifting space adjacent to one end-wall of the car, the free,l end of the spring g being curved so that the panel which arrives in the end-space back of the stationary sign-panel el is turned on its pivot as one end of the same enters between the side-wall o-f the car and the curved end of the spring g, as shown in Fig. 7 and thereby placed into an angular position across the platform f so as to be directed by the motion of the driving sprocket-wheel c2 toward the front guideways and be gradually moved by the turning of the sprocket-wheel and the moving of the sprocket-chain into the front guideways. r1`he same operation takes place in the space at the opposite end of the car, either by arranging a similar spring on a block or by simply arranging a rearwardly inclined groove in the side-wall into which the end of the sign-panel is moved by the motion of the endless chain so that the same is moved into angular position over the platform f, and then by the motion of the drivechain moved back into the rear guideways, as shown in Fig. 6. The shifting takes place automatically as each sign panel arrives at the opposite ends of the guideways, so that the sign-panels are swung on their pivots from their position at the ends of the guideways first into inclined position toward the front guideways and then by the continued motion of the sprocket-wheels and drive-chain into the front guideways, and at the opposite end by the similar automatic shifting of the sign panels from their posi tion at the end of the front guideways first into backwardly inclined position and then by the continued motion of the sprocketwheel and endless drive-chain into the rear guideways.

r1`he sign panels may be moved either continuously or intermittently, as desired. In many cases the intermittent motion is preferable as it gives al rest or dwell in the movements of the sign panels by which the signs can be read in an easier manner than when continuous slow motion is imparted to the same. For transmitting intermittent motion to the sign panels the motor mechanism has to be correspondingly arranged.

By the motor mechanism described, the drive-chain is moved together with the sign panels in the guideways, the sign panels being shifted at opposite ends of the endless drive-chain and conducted slowly, steadily and reliably from one end of the car to the other, so that the double number of signs can be arranged; but all the signs are successively brought into the front guideways from the rear guideways and exhibited to t-he public. By the larger' number of sign panels which can be provided, an increased revenue can be obtained from the renting of the advertising space in the cars, while the continuous movement of the sign-panels adds largely to the attractiveness of the advertisements in the car as the movable signs draw the attention of the persons to the on the same.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

In an apparatus of the class described, a horizontally disposed support, an endless carrier operating` thereon, aA series of card carrying frames the lower edges of Which are pivotally connected at their centers, to said carrier, the upper portions of Which frames are free and unattached, Which frames are curved in cross section, and supports against which the upper edges of said frames rest during their movement With the endless carrier and which last mentioned supports are inclined relative to the horizontally disposed support.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name in presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

PAUL GOEPEL, H. J. SUHRBIER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. C. 

